The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1887-08-05
HOG RAISING.
SOME PRACTICAL HINTS on THE RAISING
OF HOGS AND THE CURING OF HAMS.

OF HOGS AND THE CURING OF HAMS.
From The Charleston Weekly Nc,cs and Courier.
Tho Weekly Ncps anil Courier asks me
to join its coteric Of wise men who can
mako cotton at three cents per pound and
do other wonderful things, and wants me
to contribute an article to its agricultural
department on ''curius hams My vanity
is tickled by the assurance: II have tasted
come of your hams and they are the sweet
sist that? Not |, even though lose caste
with my fellows, who will smile to see me
playing the accustomed role Of telling
others chow to do it," Besides, have
hsd such FREQ license to use its columns FOR
the purpose Of airing our grievances and
advocating reforms, that | would be un-
grateful and appear churlish to refuse SO
simple request. SO here goes for a
"swim in the agricultural milIpond,' pure
and simple, along with peterkin, Clarkson,
Watts, &c and for once, without scintil-
Ia of "poltics' being Gin it."
1t is a strange feeling, aud my uuaccus-
toned pencil hardly knows whether to
write or not Then thcro is nobody to
quarrel with and dig under the fifth rib,
and feel altogether uncomfortable. Ye-,
there is the hog. l have got to stick the
hog before [ can cure the hams, and
though he can only squeal in inlig ignaut
protest, like others whom have stuck
have done, and die swearing he is innocent
and ought to be let alone, still he must
die in the cause Of ofagricultural science and
in order to gain me admission to the ".\g-
riculsural Department of the Weekly NcpS
and Courier My dear readers of the
Agricultural Department, congratulate me!
l am promoted and forever lifted above
dctraction and accusations of of"failure, and
feel as proud as "Bashaw with three
tails Come forward, We agricultural
geniuscs, whose pens have illumued the
FARMERS corner of our great weekly and
give me the right hand of fellowship,
while the choir, led by Josiah Plain, sings
Prophetic and mysterious truths,
Inever could unfold m.
Without fagon of good wine
And a slice of good old ham.
Now TO b, 'iness, for space in the \gri-
cultural department Of tho Weekly News
and Courier, like that at Columbia, is val
liable, and there is no room for trash or
ignorant pretencc. SO leave of your non,
sense, oh, "dear Capt. Tillman" and tell
rs what you know about "curing hams:'
There is absolutely no difficulty or mys-
terry about it. The trouble is to get the
hams to sure, and feel that really give
some valuable hints en- hog raising, as after
paying II cents for bacon in 1882, | be.
gan zealously to study how to raise m
own meat, and have been so successful tha,
/ can and have grown the hogs cheaper
than could buy them, even at the low
prices Of recent years The celebrated
DR.. Kitchner, the first original cook book
maker, in giving n recipe for baking hare
wrote: "First catch your hare;' and !
think the farmers of South Carolina will
be better pleased if l tell them how to
"catch" their hams than how to "curc'
them. will condense as much as possible,
for the space you can spare will not per-
NIT as full treatment Of the subject as ii
deserves. "a pig we'll started is hog half
made, and cheap meat cannot be grown
from Stuntod or ill-brcd pigs. The repui
sites for good "s.art' are a thoroughbred
boar-Berkshirc or Essex, at the South
vigorous SOW not under eighteen months
old, and good mixer, plenty of suitable
food for the SOW to turn into milk unit
the pigs are eight weeks old, and all The
soaked or ground oats, rye, peas, wheat or
barley they will eat until weancd. Com
mence to feed the pigs in trough tt
themselves, at three weeks of age, and con-
tinuing after weanng at least month
Milk is n most valuable food for young
pigs, but our people are generally too glat
to "catch" a,littlo milk for themselves tc
spare any for pigs. Corn is unsuicd fol
young growing animals Of any kind, and is
the most costly hog-fo we can raise A
mixture of wheat bran, peas and corn
meal, or peas and oats and corn ground
together is good for the sow, while suck
ling, but my hogs never get any coru, un-
less they steal it, until a couple Of weeks
before killing them. Pigs should be drop.
ped in October or March If they come